Saturday, December 12, 2009

Recommend a small camera, please!

Hi all. I've got a Canon PowerShot A640 and frankly, I'm a little tired of it. It's bulky (annoying to carry around) and the flash, no matter how I adjust it, is much too harsh. Can't use the flash for food shots at all, which makes after-dark photography a challenge. Soooo, I'm looking for something new. Small, hopefully small enough for a pocket. Good for food. Useful flash. Not terribly expensive (would under $150 be too much to hope for?)

33 comments:

I would recommend not using a flash for food photography at all, especially on a point-and-shoot style camera. You're better off using a light box and/or mirrors and reflectors, and setting the shutter speed of the camera slower. A built-in flash will almost always cause harsh shadows and glare, especially at the close range usually used in food photography.

Excellent point, Dawn! I guess I was thinking as much about my frustration w/the flash when photographing non-food stuff, like people. But since this is about food photography, I suppose I need recs for a camera with better slow-speed blur control (or whatever that's called).

I never use flash, but make sure to photograph my food in the mornings before noon when the sunlight isn't too hard (living in the tropics with blinding sunlight). I have a A570IS and it gives me amazing results... I love how much control I have over the photogrpah with exposure and all that. I'm guessing our cameras are in a similar league, no?

Even a high-end SLR won't always do well at low speed without a tripod. I have some expensive lenses with vibration reduction that are supposed to help, but more often than no I shut it off and use the tripod anyway. I know my food's not going to move out of frame on me! :) I had a great one I used with a point-and-shoot before buying the DSLR. It's cheap and easy to use. It's called the Joby Gorillapod. What's nice is that, even if you don't have a flat surface to stand it on, you can just wrap the legs around the back of a chair or something.

OoOoo, love the tripods in the kitchen. You can play with your food and concentrate on the shot at hand instead of holding the darned thing still.

Instead of buying a new rig, do some studying and shoot more, take some notes on what you like and don't like. I have a gaggle of cameras handy and most of my shots look alike, because I'm the one taking them.

Purple Foodie, how do you manage to take every picture before noon? Most of my shots are of dinner, which ain't ready at that hour! Especially now that it's dark before 5, I almost never have food ready to shoot in daylight.

The tripod is a smart idea. I actually own one but (duh) it didn't occur to me to pull it out. I'll try it next time.

I suppose my biggest issue is with color correction. I suck at it. If I could ever stop going long enough to catch my breath, I'd take a Photoshop course.

I agree with all that I never use the flash with food. But I don't use a DSLR...mainly because I can't afford it. I have a Samsung PL60 and I LOVE it! I can set my own preferences, which is a plus for a point and shoot. I would highly recommend it!

I also would 100% suggest a tripod as others have mentioned, it makes life that much easier!

I have a powershot A720is and I love it - it provides me with nearly as much control over the settings as my DSLR but fits in my bag :) Agree with previous posters - disable the flash for food photography and shoot on a large aperture instead. Although if it's a small size you are after, it is probably not much different in size to what you have.

I only use natural light. I highly recommend Panasonic Lumix Dmc- Zs3 Tz7 Leica 10.1 Mp. Was my first camera and I had very good results. At this moment I am using a reflex , but, my Lumix had many resources that I found in my new camera If yo want check on my blog

You're much better away developing utilization of the lumination box and/or mirrors and reflectors I have play the wow for a long times and have some good advice for you to get the best World Of Warcraft Gold with goods ways, I also have the best ways for you of the Cheapest WOW Gold, please don't hesitate !

Thanks so much for this! I have not been thrilled by a blog post for quite some time! You’ve got it, whatever that means in blogging. Anyway, You’re definitely someone that has something to say that people should hear. Keep up the wonderful job.

Thank you for the great article I did enjoyed reading it, I will be sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will come back from again. I want to encourage that you continue your great job, have a good day !

Nice information, valuable and excellent design, as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which I need, thanks to offer such a helpful information here.

I consider this post as one of the best post ever. It is one of a kind. I really admire the important ideas that you offer in the content. I am looking forward for more important thoughts and more blogs...

Food Blogs may be cool, but here it's back to School. Join this forum and together we can learn more about the technicalities of blogging and make our collective blogs even more delectable than they are already.

This is a forum for all food and drink bloggers. If you want to join the team, sign up to be a member by sending both the name of your blog and its url AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS in the body of the email to Food.Blog.Scool@gmail.com

Members will have the ability to start threads on this site, but absolutely anyone can post comments. Food Blog S'cool membership is open to anyone with a Food or Drink Blog. Please be patient whilst I sign you up. Admin is only completed about once a month. Thank you.

Food Blog S'cool is not responsible for any comments or posts on this site. Individuals are responsible for their own content and should be mindful that they do not say write anything that breaks the law or infringes on copyright.